Connelly in Nevada: Edwards tries to double down

Editor’s note: P-I columnist Joel Connelly is in Nevada this week to cover the Democratic caucuses.

LAS VEGAS – No presidential candidate of recent vintage has experienced such bad luck in seeking the national spotlight as ex-Sen. John Edwards.

He surged to a second place showing in the 2004 Iowa caucuses, only to see the national media fixated on “Dean’s Scream,” the caucus night concession speech of third place finisher Howard Dean.

Edwards spent much of the past four years in Iowa, carefully building an organization and taking a lead over Hillary Clinton in the polls. And then, along came Obamania. Another second place showing was ignored as the national media focused on two stereotype-shattering frontrunners, the African-American Sen. Barack Obama and Clinton, the first woman to have a serious shot at the White House.

Edwards soldiers on. He is trying, in three days of campaigning before Saturday’s Nevada caucuses, to counter the impact of 13 visits by Obama to the Silver State, and a year’s worth of non-stop attention by Bill and Hillary Clinton. Even as Hillary Clinton was off in California yesterday, the ex-president again emerged from his “bungalow” at the Bellagio to make four Las Vegas stops for the former first lady.

“We’re going to create a tidal wave of change that sweeps across America,” Edwards told about 400 backers in a union hall Wednesday night.

The crowd loved it, and Edwards had them on their feet a moment later with the message, “I’m going to give you back the REAL Democratic Party.”

During the question and answer session, one audience member wanted to know: What question did Edwards want to ask Hillary Clinton at Tuesday’s low-key debate among the three Democratic candidates?

“I would have asked, ‘Since you’ve taken all this money from corporate lobbyists, would you commit to not having corporate lobbyists working in your White House?'” Edwards said to cheers.

The answer would have interested not only caucus-goers, but high-powered Washington, D.C., fixers – pollster Mark Penn, ex-Democratic Chairman Terry McAuliffe, former top House aide Stev Elmendorf – who have a high profile in the Clinton restoration.

But Edwards’ bold populist talk is fraying around the edges.

The stump speech on Wednesday was noticeably shorter than orations a month ago in down-on-their-luck Iowa manufacturing towns.

It contained few references to Nevada. Edwards is preaching a bold, federally driven energy conversion plan, yet there was not a mention of the New Deal’s great nearby achievement – Hoover Dam. (Similarly, on Seattle visits, Edwards has held forth at the Boeing Machinists hall, without noting the determination his hosts have demonstrated in holding onto union jobs and sustaining strikes.)

A touch of anger was apparent later when Edwards fielded a few press queries. “If you are to believe the national media, the Democratic race consists of just two candidates,” he said.

The Washington, D.C., media elite have never been more deserving of being lampooned.

MSNBC’s resident loudmouth Chris Matthews has been called to task for making a multitude of sexist comments about Clinton, before showering her with praise on Tuesday night. NBC anchor Brian Williams managed to forget what city he was in while moderating Tuesday’s debate here.

Conservative pundit Robert Novak, desperate to ward off the populist Mike Huckabee, even embraced Sen. John McCain as the Republicans’ likely nominee — after years of attacking McCain on topics ranging from taxes to global warming. McCain promptly lost the Michigan primary. The Washington Post’s David Broder wrote a kind of obituary to Mitt Romney last weekend, based on the judgment of former Michigan Gov. William Milliken. Milliken left office a quarter-century ago.

Edwards could have a field day taking these guys on, arguing that Washington, D.C.’s pundits as well as its politicians are out of touch with the country. And that might finally give him the spotlight.

How well will Edwards do in the caucuses on Saturday? He has the backing of four local unions, and a devoted local following – which has gone months without nurturing by the national campaign. Polls show him close behind Obama and Clinton, but polls in caucus states are notoriously unreliable.

Jed Lewison, a former communications director for Sen. Maria Cantwell and Las Vegas resident, hopes for a respectable Edwards vote total to keep the cause alive.

What cause? Edwards put it succinctly. “Nothing will change if we trade a bunch of corporate Republicans for a bunch of corporate Democrats.”.